Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Comedy day this Wednesday, starting with the news from NBC where they're developing NATURAL HISTORY museum set multicam sitcom from Chris

Chris Hardwick will produce new NBC sitcom

Hardwick about a young woman who returns home to become director of a beloved local natural history museum, only to find it has gone to hell in her absence. She must wrangle her well intentioned but less than reliable staff while battling slashed budgets, rude patrons and collapsing dinosaur skeletons.

ROSEANNE & BALDWIN AT ABC
Over at ABC (beside the first photo from the return of ROSEANNE which
hits small screens next year) they gave a straight to series order to a
multicam sitcom which will probably star Alec Baldwin, about a
dysfunctional family led by a stuck-in-his-ways, opinionated, fading TV
star who moves in with his progressive daughter, her girlfriend and the
child they are raising together. And speaking of returns, Joe Lawrence
who played the brother in famous 90s comedy BLOSSOM has revealed earlier
this week that serious talks are being led on the possible return of
the

First look at the return of Roseanne sitcom at ABC

family comedy which also starred Mayim Bialik. She now stars in The
Big Bang Theory while Lawrence starred in Melissa and Joey sitcom.Blossom's creator is doing The Ranch at Netflix.

Are you excited, people? The animated movie of the year FERDINAND is finally opening in cinemas this week, hitting theatres December 15th after the lovely premiere last night and it has another reason for a big celebration - it won two Golden Globe nominations on Monday - for best animated movie and for best original song, Home, written and sung by Nick Jonas. The song which appears both in the movie and in the end credits is also on the movie's original soundtrack which is already in shops! Before the loveable and peace loving bull FERDINAND arrives into cinematic corridas this weekend, you can also

Ferdinand is up against Star Wars in cinemas

check out a bunch of delightful new posters featuring both Ferdie and the rest of the hilarious characters.

A BULL'S STORY
From Blue Sky Studios and Carlos Saldanha (the director of Ice Age
movies and Rio) and inspired by the beloved book “The Story of
Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, FERDINAND is a heart warming
animated comedy adventure with an all-star cast. FERDINAND tells the
story of a giant bull with a big heart. After being mistaken for a
dangerous beast, he is captured and torn from his home. Determined to
return to his family, he rallies a misfit team on the ultimate
adventure. Set in Spain, Ferdinand proves you can’t judge a bull by its
cover.

JOHN CENA LEADS VOICE CAST

The voice cast is led by John Cena who lends his voice to Ferdinand, a Spanish fighting bull who prefers smelling the flowers and practising non-violence rather than chasing red cloths held by matadors in arenas. But when disaster comes to him, he is taken to a fighting stadium, and Ferdinand needs to decide if he is a fighting bull or a flower smelling, generous bull, in order to earn his freedom. Kate McKinnon is Lupe, an old goat! David Tennant is Angus, a bull from Scotland while Bobby Cannavale is bull Valiente, a bull. Gina Rodriguez, Daveed Diggs and Gabriel Iglesias are a trio of crazy hedgehogs Una, Dos and Cuatro! Flula Borg, Boris Kodjoe and Sally Phillips are, meanwhile, horses with Jerrod Carmichael lending his voice to Paco, a dog!

Among the many exclusives in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly was also the first photo of Antonio Banderas in the second season of anthology series GENIUS in which he is playing Pablo Picasso! In the National Geographic's series Alex Rich will portray the young Picasso, while Antonio Banderas will be portraying the artist from his 40s until his death in 1973 at the age of 91! He lived most of his life in Paris of the first half of the 20th century and crossed paths with writers and artists including Coco Chanel, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Gertrude Stein, Georges Braque and Jean Cocteau, so you may expect them in the series too!

'FULLER HOUSE' TRAILER

FOR 2ND PART OF SEASON 3!

Speaking of television, a trailer for the second part of the third season of Netflix' FULLER HOUSE is out announcing what will happen in the new episodes that are available from December 22nd! As you know, they're all

The rest of season three has nine more episodes for festive binge watching

flying to Tokyo for Steve’s (Scott Weinger) wedding, which DJ (Candace Cameron Bure) might stop because she feels he is her true love, but she might get married to another one as Matt (John Brotherton) is gonna propose to her!

'READY PLAYER ONE'

Ready Player One comes out next March

FIRST TRAILER OUT!

1st trailer has been released for Steven Spielberg's sf movie READY PLAYER ONE which, out next March, is set in 2044 and stars Tye Sheridan as Wade Watts, who finds the first clue in a race to find the hidden Easter Egg in a massive VR game called the Oasis, created by a now-deceased genius. Whoever finds the Egg will inherit the creator’s $240 billion fortune.

Monday, December 11, 2017

This one arrived this weekend rather unexpectedly, must admit I quite forgot it finished with production, but the first trailer has been released for ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL last night. The big screen adaptation of the popular manga

Rosa Salazar plays an unusual cyborg Alita

comes from James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez and has Rosa Salazar playing the powerful cyborg but her face has been rendered with CGI to give her the specific look. The movie comes out next July!

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL
is an action-packed story of hope, love and empowerment. Set several centuries in the future, the abandoned Alita (Rosa Salazar) is found in the

Ed Skrein plays a villain named Zapan

scrapyard of Iron City by Ido (Christoph Waltz),
a compassionate cyber-doctor who takes the unconscious cyborg Alita to
his clinic. When Alita

Keean Johnson plays Alita's love interest

awakens she has no memory of who she is, nor does
she have any recognition of the world she finds herself in. Everything
is new to Alita, every experience a

Jennifer Connelly is also in the cast of the movie

first. As she learns to navigate her
new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield
Alita from her mysterious past while her street-smart

Alita will discover she's a battle angel next July!

new friend, Hugo (Keean Johnson),
offers instead to help trigger her memories. A growing affection
develops between the two until deadly forces

Oscar winner Mahershala Ali also stars in the movie

come after Alita and
threaten her new found relationships. It is then that Alita discovers
she has extraordinary fighting abilities that could be used to save the

Alita has been made on a very risky massive $200 million budget

friends and family she's grown to love. Determined to uncover the truth
behind her origin, Alita sets out on a journey that will lead her to
take on the

James Cameron left Alita's helm to direct new Avatars

injustices of this dark, corrupt world, and discover that
one young woman can change the world in which she lives.

The Spy is posting a bit earlier today because I need to share these epic delights with you while they're still hot from the oven! First, two epic photos from MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS: Saoirse Ronan is leading her troops in

Margot Robbie is one very angry queen, Elizabeth I of England

one as Mary, together with Jack Lowden who plays her husband Lord Darnley, while Margot Robbie is ruling London court as queen Elizabeth in another one. Out next November it depicts Mary Stuart's attempt to overthrow

Saoirse Ronan and Jack Lowden are Mary and Darnley!

her cousin Elizabeth I, which finds her condemned to years of imprisonment before facing execution. David Tennant, Guy Pearce, Martin Compston, Brendan Coyle and Joe Alvyn also star.

FIRST 'ROBIN HOOD'

PHOTOS WITH TARON EGERTON

Entertainment Weekly has also published first exclusive photos from new ROBIN HOOD movie showing Taron Egerton as the legendary archer

Taron Egerton will shoot his arrows next September

from Sherwood forest! Another photo shows him with Eve Hewson who plays Maid Marian. The cast also includes Jamie Foxx as Little John and

Eve Hewson joins Taron Egerton as Maid Marian

Jamie Dornan as very hunky Will Scarlett! Ben Mendelsohn is Sheriff of Nottingham in a more gritty new take on the famous legend which will ride into cinemas late September 2018.

'THE TERROR' EPIC SERIES

POLAR TEASER AND PHOTOS

AMC has, meanwhile, finally released first photos and set a date for their long awaited new historical series THE TERROR which will, based on a novel by Dan Simmons, start its ten episode life March 26th with a two hour

Saturday, December 9, 2017

I'm sure that by now you've already seen it, but if you haven't here's the first trailer for JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM which was

J.A. Bayona directs, Spielberg is producing

released earlier today! Directed by J.A. Bayona, the sequel to Jurassic World, which made more than $1,5 billion around the world, brings dinosaurs back to cinemas next June starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Toby Jones and Jeff Goldblum who again plays Dr. Ian Malcolm from the original movies!

WELCOME TO JURASSIC WORLD!It's been four years since theme
park and luxury resort Jurassic World was destroyed by dinosaurs out of
containment. Isla Nublar now sits abandoned by humans while the
surviving dinosaurs fend for themselves in

Chris Pratt again takes the lead male role!

the jungles. When the
island's dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard)
mount a campaign to

Most of the dinosaurs aren't CGI but animatronic!

rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction
level event. Owen is driven to find Blue, his lead raptor who's still
missing in the wild, and Claire has grown a respect for these creatures
she now makes her mission. Arriving

The 2015 original has earned more than $1,6 billion around the world

on the unstable island as lava
begins raining down, their expedition uncovers a conspiracy that could
return our entire planet to a perilous order not seen since prehistoric
times. With all of the wonder, adventure and thrills

The movie opens June 2nd in Europe, June 22nd in USA

synonymous with one
of the most popular and successful series in cinema history, this
all-new motion-picture event sees the return of favourite characters and
dinosaurs along with new breeds more awe-inspiring and terrifying than
ever before.

Friday, December 8, 2017

Just some sf news today! Netflix has bought movie rights on John Scalzi's sf novel OLD MAN'S WAR, the first of the six book sf saga nominated for

The novel was published back in 2005!

Hugo Award.

OLD MAN'S WAR is set centuries in the future where older citizens are
given a choice: age and die on Earth or join the military in the
interstellar Colonial Union, which will transfer their minds into battle
ready versions of their own younger bodies. The story follows 75 year
old widower John Perry, who, in his amazing new body - Perry, discovers
he’s a natural fighter and leads his platoon through gruelling battles
against hostile alien races. But when he meets a soldier who looks like a
younger version of his beloved deceased wife, everything Perry thought
he knew about his new life, and the war he’s fighting in it, is turned
upside down.

DID YOU KNOW?

These novels include all kinds of super modern technology and weapons and a whole bunch of different alien races including Lilliputian ones and some that look like a cross between black bear and a large flying squirrel!

Thursday, December 7, 2017

With the news that BBC will air their new period set series Miniaturist on the 26th and 27th of December and new Little Women on the 26th, 27th and

They will use Indian actors and British production

28th, and that they have also bought Natalie Dormer's costume dramaPicnic At Hanging Rockfor next year (it is from Australian Foxtel), comes also info on another new epic drama! THE FAR PAVILIONS, an epic novel by MM Kaye, will be adapted into expensive, sweeping, 30 episode epic series in an English Indian co production.

Produced by Michael Ward and Colin Burrows for Beautiful Bay
Productions, the $150 million worth saga will tell the 19th century story of an
Englishman brought up as a Hindu during the British Raj and his
passionate love for an Indian princess. Back in the 80's HBO had a mini
series on it with Ben Cross, Amy Irving, Omar Sharif and Christopher
Lee!

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Epic delights today with ITV's trailer for Christmas episode of their super popular historical drama VICTORIA which will air its two hour festive special on Christmas Day! Jenna Coleman returns as Queen Victoria, Tom

Christmas Special will air 9PM on ITV on Christmas Day!

Hughes as her husband Prince Albert, David Oakes as Prince Ernest who will be spending Christmas with them and the rest of their court. As you can see it will be a very snowy episode with lots of holiday delights. Real Prince

Special was written last year but ITV didn't know Victoria would be so popular

Albert was known to be a man obsessed with Christmas decorations and festive spirit. Albert gives Victoria an emerald and diamond coronet for

How dashing is David Oakes' prince Ernst on his elegant skates?

Christmas and in return gets a very intimate and revealing (at least for that age and time) portrait of his wife from Victoria herself. There will also be a proposal in the special, and a very dramatic rescue as well!

A TRUE CHRISTMAS STORY The special episode will actually depict the true story of a Nigerian girl
called Sarah Forbes Bonetta who is brought to the palace after being
rescued by a

Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes return in their leading roles

British Naval captain involved in an anti-slavery ring. Set in Christmas 1846, the rest of the episode sees Victoria uncharacteristically melancholic as she

There will also be a proposal in the festive episode!

prepares to tackle her first Christmas without her beloved Baroness Lehzen. Pregnant with her and Albert’s fourth child, the festive period reminds her of

That's the emerald crown Albert gives to Victoria for Christmas

her lonely childhood spent at Kensington. Albert, on the other hand is gripped by an obsession with staging the perfect family Christmas, transforming the

An expensive gift for the famous enslaver queen Victoria

palace into a magical festive wonderland. Tensions arise between him and Victoria, however, when Albert invites some unwelcome house guests to join the celebrations. The second season will be airing in USA on Masterpiece from January 14th, by the way!

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Here's something to creep up your Monday! Netflix has released first teaser and images from their ultra expensive science fiction show ALTERED CARBON which will air next February starring Joel Kinnaman!

WELCOME TO YOUR NEW BODY! Based on Richard K. Morgan's novel it follows Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman),
a former elite interstellar warrior known as an Envoy who has

Before getting Kinnaman's hot body, Kovacs was an Asian man

been
imprisoned for 500 years and is downloaded into a future he’d tried to
stop. Society has been transformed by new technology: consciousness can
be

James Purefoy and Joel Kinnaman lead the cast

digitized, human bodies are interchangeable, and death is no longer
permanent. Kovacs is the lone surviving Envoy after they were defeated
in an

Renee Elise Goldsberry is the leader of interstellar warriors Envoys

uprising against the new world order. His mind was imprisoned, “on
ice”, for centuries until Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy), an
impossibly wealthy,

Martha Higareda plays the female lead

long lived man, offers Kovacs the chance to live
again. In exchange, Kovacs has to solve a murder — that of Bancroft
himself.
Martha Higareda is the

The series is set 300 years into the future, not that the costumes show it

female lead as Kristin Ortega, a smart and
tough lieutenant in the Bay City PD who is following in the footsteps of
her father, a cop who died heroically in the line of duty.